


Macaron lessons

by BadassIndustries



Series: Stories from the Adventure Zone Family [1]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: And plays with fire, Canon Compliant, Fluff and Humor, Found Family, Gen, Lup imparts some Life Lessons, The Adventure Zone - Balance, post story and song, pre-finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2019-10-28
Packaged: 2021-01-05 21:27:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21215333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BadassIndustries/pseuds/BadassIndustries
Summary: Once upon a time Lup burned Angus' first attempt at macarons. Now she's gonna make it right.





	Macaron lessons

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sunfreckle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sunfreckle/gifts).

> I wanted to write something for Taz and then I realised I can actually bake macarons. Written for my sister, who wished to see Lup making up for burning the macarons. This is my first Taz fic, so let me know what you think!
> 
> Enjoy!

Lup doesn't really do children. It's Magnus who coaches groups of little losers to victory and subsequent pizza parties, Lup ain't about all that mentoring business. Kids need to be kept safe from fire and booze and explosions and basically everything fun. Not that Lup doesn't have maternal instincts. She'd be a fucking amazing mother. But still. Kids. Not her thing. But Angus isn't exactly a normal kid. He's a hero, technically. And a fully-fledged Bureau employee, working directly under Lucretia to turn his investigative skills to finding those displaced by the fighting. He also doesn't seem to mind that the majority of his friends are old enough to be his parents. Grandparents, in some cases. He acts more mature than most of 'em, in fact. Which makes it easy to forget that he's still a little boy. Just a little kid whose hard work she destroyed to get a message out. So now she's here, wearing a fabulously bedazzled apron and teaching the little squirt to blow her brother's mind with baked goods. It's cute how much Angus wants to impress Taako. It's also hilarious how much Taako is trying not to care about that. She waves her whisk regally, like a sceptre. Angus stands up so straight he might as well be on tiptoes.

"Okay Ango, now here's the trick. When you made your first macarons, you put in a lot of effort yeah? Whipped up the merengue real good, waited for them to dry properly?"

Angus nods fervently.

"Yes Miss Lup! I followed all the instructions carefully and Taako even said I got the texture right!"

He's standing there in his shrunken apron, beaming proudly. Lup absolutely does not feel a pang in her newly beating heart at the thought of destroying something the kid put so much effort in. It was for a greater purpose. And anyway, she's making up for it now.

"Yeah texture's real important. Without it a macaron's just a sad, overpriced cookie. But taste... Now there's where we can let our genius shine. What flavour did you make for Taako, kid?"

"Elderflower Ma'am," says Angus enthusiastically, "Those are the ones he gave us, so I assumed they were his favourites."

Lup shakes her head slowly. This kid has a lot to learn. Fortunately, he has all the coolest folks in the whole planar system clamouring to teach him.

"And there's your first mistake," she says. Angus face falls, but that's okay. She's gonna make it better.

"Taako's elderflower macarons are his showpiece. You don't try and impress the master by copying his work. And anyway, Taako's only gonna say they're mediocre because he didn't make them. You wouldn't give Magnus a rocking chair, you don't give Taako his own recipes. Well, I do, obviously, but it's gonna be some years since you can aspire to the level of my genius."

Angus looks like he'd like to be taking notes just now. What a nerd. Lup smiles. She directs him to the counter where she's put the mise-en-place. Or rather, the stepstool in front of the counter, since Angus is a tiny little man in a grown elves' kitchen. Fates, he's so young.

"We, Mr Mcdonald," says Lup in her best voice dripping with gravitas, waving her whisk towards the culinary riches spread before them, "are going to make the most delectable, the most baller, in fact the choicest macarons this world has ever seen. And what flavour, you ask? Well--"

Lup's monologue gets interrupted by Angus raising his hand like he's in class. "Kinda a rhetorical question there, little dude, but go ahead," she says, raising one eyebrow elegantly.

"Is it lemon raspberry Ma'am? I saw the fresh raspberries in the cooler this morning and there's lemons on the counter!"

"Yeah Ango, they are. Shoulda realised I can't keep surprises from you. Kinda ruined my moment there, huh."

Angus looks up at her with a little glint in his eye. "I_ am_ the world's greatest detective ma'am. People generally ask me to stop detecting if they want to surprise me." A smug little grin plays on his face. Lup bursts out laughing.

"Hell yeah little man, you tell 'em!" She theatrically wipes a tear from her face.

"Okay okay, back to business. But thanks, I needed that. Now, you ready for some baking?"

She holds her hand up for a highfive. She's even nice enough to hold it where he can reach. After a moment in which Angus looks at her with a piercing gaze, he smiles and highfives her. They both turn to the recipe.

Together, they quickly whip up the batter. That's the part you could learn from a recipe. Whip up a nice merengue with magehand, gently fold it with the batter, dab some batter on the kid's nose just to see him go cross-eyed. Angus shows promise, even though he wanted to do the folding with magehand too. Makes sense, Lup wouldn't want to spend time delicately folding if she could do it quicker either. Especially not if she had scrawny little kid arms. But she's the first person to tell you Magehand is not the same as your real hand. You know you're touching something, but you can't really feel it. Can't feel texture, or warmth, or a rushing pulse. But anyway. Angus now knows that folding requires a delicate, flesh and blood hand. The personal touch. And now it's time for the fun part. She expertly transfers the batter into a piping bag.

"Time to make the magic happen," she says as she hands the bag to Angus. He's bouncing on his toes from excitement. At this rate he'll fall off the stepstool. But it's probably fine. Human kids are sturdy. Probably.

Angus has gotten started immediately. His tongue is poking out as he carefully floods the circle with batter. Lup and Taako don't need to use predrawn circles or fancy piping tips. When they started out, half the time they didn't even have almond flour. The reason Taako's signature macaron is elderflower is because elderflowers grow in wild hedgerows and taste strong enough to mask the slight difference in taste between almond flour and transmuted grains. But that's okay. Just because Taako and Lup were used to making do, doesn't mean she has to put Angus in front of the same challenges. The boy fought the Hunger, he gets to have some kitchen training wheels. And he looks so happy. He’s carefully leaning over the counter, garish apron over his fancy boy suit. It's a good look, even though it's ridiculously prim for a kid who should be playing in the mud. But it's an interesting vibe and Lup could do some cool things with it. A deconstructed look, maybe. Raggedy patches with glitter, maybe enchanted flames over the shoulder. That'd be cool. And a fucking inside pocket so the kid doesn't have to carry his wand on a fateforsaken _lanyard_. Even Barry doesn't have his wand on a lanyard and he's the biggest nerd of several planes. Angus gets done quickly and looks up for her approval. They're a little uneven, but not bad. She says so and is a little struck by the strength of his beaming smile. She moves on quickly, not sure how long she can bear that happy little boy smile.

"So what's next, pumpkin?" She asks brightly.

Angus pushes his glasses up his nose and consults the recipe.

"Let dry for three hours, until a soft film covers the caps," he reads. He looks a bit disappointed. Waiting sucks. Lup smiles her most impressive smile. This is gonna be fun.

"Now this is what separates evocation geniuses from your regular run-of-the-mill shmucks. We don't have to wait three hours for these babies to dry, we're magic!"

With grand flair, Lup ignites the air above her fingers. The flames have always been her favourite part of cooking. She plays with heat and colour a little, showing off for the kid. Taako's probably only been showing him boring transmutation stuff. Time for Angus to see something really cool.

Heating up the air around her hand she slowly holds it above each shell in turn. Within a few minutes, they all have a beautiful little skin, firm enough they don't burst when Angus pokes one curiously.

Lup takes a bow and Angus claps. He's a good audience, eyes gleaming. Maybe she'll teach him to create a small flame while they wait for the macarons to bake.

"What's Taaco Baking Rule number 47?" Lup quizzes. Taako and her have been making up rules for a few hundred years now. It's nice to impart them to the new generation. She looks at Angus expectantly. There's flour in his curls and his fingers are stained pink. This was an excellent idea.

"Waiting's for losers and magicless dweebs" Angus recites faithfully.

Lup laughs. This kid is amazing, she's definitely keeping him.


End file.
